[quote=scaredycat]not all humans are optimists by nature. there’s a range. In fact, large swaths of us are whatare called “defensive pessimists”. we plan for the wrost and expect it as a probably outcome and plan for it. Optimism is not what allows people to take risks; optimism is what allows people to take dumb risks. Low expectations in life are the secret to happiness. [/quote]
Of course not ALL humans are optimists by nature. But the AVERAGE human is optimistic. In AGGREGATE, humans are an optimistic lot. And, sorry, but optimism IS what allows people to take the kinds of risk that engender progress. Think about any of the great inventions of the last 150 years – just to pick a time frame – virtually every one of them came to fruition because some inventor believed that the highly unlikely was possible and was willing to take enormous risk to find out.
You are not optimistic. Which is fine. We need pessimists to keep the optimists in check. In fact, we could have used a hell of lot more pessimism over the last two decades. But, make no mistake, you will never take a risk. And certainly not a risk that will engender progress. That’s not meant as an insult – I don’t plan on taking any enormous risks either (at least that I’m aware of) – it’s just a statement of fact.
